When I learned that the new video scorer’s table at Kettle Moraine was just less than $20,000, I was surprised. I had researched online to find some football scoreboards — larger in size than the board at Kettle Moraine, but no video component — for close to that amount, so I figured the advanced video capabilities would essentially double the price.

I naively thought my reaction would translate to a lack of outcry, figuring other people would see the video board as a bit of a bargain. And heck, maybe that’s exactly what happened, though a couple Facebook comments on my story about the scorer’s table suggested there was at least a vocal population of people who felt it was an extravagance.

Perhaps this column unnecessarily responds to those one or two comments, but it’s certainly a storyline we’ve seen before. The biggest example comes to mind from Arrowhead High School, where the school made use of a significant donation to fashion new state-of-the-art locker rooms with a price tag ($660,000) that became a hot topic on local talk radio in 2015.

I suppose it should be expected that anytime a major-ticket item is purchased and isn’t seen as one of the essentials (textbooks, desks, etc.), eyebrows will raise. Athletics directors, in particular, have to dance between optics and improvements, enhancing their facilities without going perceptively overboard — and finding the funds to do so. The latter part is particularly why a video board is so useful; it has the potential to cultivate a revenue stream that could pay for itself — and then some — in short order.

When these types of purchases get made, community members have to look beyond the sticker shock.

The new video-capable scorer's table at Kettle Moraine will add something to the fan experience that isn't available at other high schools.(Photo: Kevin Buntman)

To market, to market

Former Oconomowoc athletics director Scott Raduka once called athletics a “front porch” for schools. The analogy goes like this: Athletics may not be the substantive portion of the house, but it’s still the thing people see from the outside, and a tidy front porch lends a strong impression to the overall house.

As marketing and fundraising become more and more important for school districts, that becomes increasingly important to note.

“If you don’t market and keep up with the times, you fall behind,” said Kevin Flegner, athletics director at Oconomowoc High School. Flegner was at Arrowhead when the school implemented a number of facility improvements, including upgrades that made the football stadium one of the area’s best and those much-ballyhooed locker rooms.

“When you have open enrollment and everything else going on … people who find innovative ways to market seem to be more successful. When you see advertising on video boards, it creates a whole different experience and excitement that folks are used to when they go to college and pro games. Why can’t we have the same experience in high school? We have businesses in town that love to support their high-school team and get their name out there.”

Flegner pointed out that video-capable scoreboards not only serve as a potential source of revenue from area advertisers, but they also allow for the promotion of other school events — theater productions, school-group fundraisers, other athletics events — and even provide an added boost in education when students are involved in programming and operating the board.

“The video board (at Oconomowoc) is run by a class, and we’ve written a curriculum for that,” Flegner said. “It’s becoming a teachable component in a kid’s education. There are jobs out there (requiring technological literacy). … Our kids are getting technical skills that can propel them into opportunities.”

Flegner suggested that students could even be involved in the sale of advertising space.

“I always look at the educational value, how you tie the school into the community and showcase the school,” Flegner said. “That’s what KM is doing.

“Parents are sick of the fundraisers with cookie dough, pizza, everything else. Obviously, our school budgets are going down. Folks don’t want to pay any more than they have to, so we have to find money within our athletic department to offset these costs. Everyone has an advertising budget, and people want bang for their buck.”

Staying relevant

Arrowhead High School in Hartland completed new $662,000 locker rooms for its basketball teams in 2015.(Photo: Thysse Design, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Kettle Moraine’s board is the first of its kind in the area, but you better believe it won’t be the last.

There may be an optics penalty in the court of public opinion that comes with being an early adopter, but advancements such as video boards, artificial field turf and multipurpose athletic facilities are spreading like wildfire.

“What's really turned the community on to this is the fact that we hold our parent-teacher conferences in there,” Hamilton athletics director Mike Gosz said. “We put our AP testing and ACT testing in there; it’s a controlled environment.”

The gym and football field have also featured video boards since 2012, though Gosz and the Hamilton Booster Club, in a project overseen by Tom Blackwell, were able to secure commitments from local businesses to offset the majority of the cost before securing the final portion of funds through the athletics budget.

“I’m sure every athletic director would love to never have to knock on a door and solicit funds,” Gosz said. “They have better things to do. But you have to continue to provide competitive programs and give them what they need to compete. That includes the cost of things like footballs and helmets. You have to find different revenue streams, and video boards and advertising are a part of that.”

Flegner, who now oversees an Oconomowoc program that dramatically overhauled its outdoor facilities as part of a joint-venture capital campaign, “Athletic Fields Forever,” also doesn’t want to see his school always be the one reacting to change.

“What drives me is to be always on the cutting edge,” he said. “I don’t want to have to sit and wait for other people to dictate how we're going to do things. I want to do it the right way and be the leader in the industry. The day that stops happening, it's time for me to go look for something else to do. It needs to be that way. Schools that are successful have innovative leadership, and when you’re successful, everything runs smoothly, it really does. I'm also going to be smart about it. These are large-ticket items, and we're not going to go out and take away from our teams and our kids.

“It really comes down to schools showcasing the unbelievable talent and kids they have within their schools.”

The bottom line

Here’s where I think the whole conversation has the potential to get cynical, but it’s no less true. Advertisers would love a chance to reach out to high-school aged kids, especially in an environment where they’re familiar and comfortable. This is an age where many are developing brand loyalty.

Schools don’t typically look at their families as “customers,” preferring to term the relationship as something more intimate and enriching. Yet, schools are expected to provide a number of services, all of which require a fair amount of funding, so the business-model part of it can’t be ignored. Video boards such as this capitalize on a school’s selling point — its athletics programs — which present a rare opportunity to bring potential customers onto campus multiple times a week.

At the same time, they offer a chance to celebrate the athletes (and other students), a process that’s satisfying to those on hand and attractive to other potential customers looking to choose a school district.

It's not as simple as pumping money into the sports programs at the expense of something else.